Reliable 22LR ammo

I think mini-mags are the gold standard for reliable ignition and operating in semi autos for ammo that doesn't have a premium price tag. I've shot thousands of them and don't think I have ever experienced a dud.
 
After running and shooting steel challenge matches for 6+ years, and witnessing tens or hundreds of thousands of rounds of 22 fired, CCI Mini Mags are the standout for reliability among the normal/affordable ammo. Might not be the most accurate, but they're the one that's most likely to cycle in any given gun, in my opinion. Some of the Gucci ammo (Eley, SK, Lapua, etc) if probably equally reliable and potentially more accurate, but considerably more expensive.
 
Scotty454 said:
After running and shooting steel challenge matches for 6+ years, and witnessing tens or hundreds of thousands of rounds of 22 fired, CCI Mini Mags are the standout for reliability among the normal/affordable ammo. Might not be the most accurate, but they're the one that's most likely to cycle in any given gun, in my opinion. Some of the Gucci ammo (Eley, SK, Lapua, etc) if probably equally reliable and potentially more accurate, but considerably more expensiv
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Scotty454 said:
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Scotty454 said:
After running and shooting steel challenge matches for 6+ years, and witnessing tens or hundreds of thousands of rounds of 22 fired, CCI Mini Mags are the standout for reliability among the normal/affordable ammo. Might not be the most accurate, but they're the one that's most likely to cycle in any given gun, in my opinion. Some of the Gucci ammo (Eley, SK, Lapua, etc) if probably equally reliable and potentially more accurate, but considerably more expensive.
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The gun club i belong to does rimfire steel shots and I want to give it a try, what's your ammo of choice for them, I get ever barrel will shoot different,
I'm Asking if you use high grade target ammo or high speed ammo?
 
CCI SV has done good by me and I cannot remember the last time I had a dud with it.

Eley ammo (no matter the flavour) has never had a dud but I also know the cost goes up quite a bit with this (I only use this for 100m/yard benchrest shooting.)

Remington Thunderbolt every couple mags I would get a dud. Fun and cheap for plinking but thats about it.

Federal Blue Box and Federal Automatch perform about the same for me. In the last two boxes (one of each) I had a couple of duds per box of 325. This is my go to cheap plinking ammo in my 10/22 competition. An likely what I would use for speed steel if I ever get to try it out.

SK LRM I went through a brick without a dud but also the cost goes up here.

Norma Tac-22 I only put about 200rnds downrange and iirc zero duds.

B
 
I've settled on -

Federal Premium Gold Medal Rimfire ("Target") 22 LR 40 Gr LRN
in my CZ bolt-action rifles

Federal AutoMatch 22 LR 40 Gr LRN
in my Ruger 10/22 and my 22LR pistols

Current price at Tenda - $80/500-brick for the Federal Gold Medal and $31/325-box for the AutoMatch.
 
Remington and Federal have been about the worst.

CCI SV, Norma Tac-22 are good; can't remember the last time I had a dud from either. Considering the price, good accuracy too.

SK, Eley are great, but you will pay more for most of their products.
 
Hmatt said:
Norma tac, federal auto match, sk
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Federal Automatch was my go-to for my High Standard Sharpshooter Pistol, but their quality slipped through covid in both accuracy and reliability. Darn shame, my pistol really liked that older stuff.
 
Clay Huntin' Canuck said:
The gun club i belong to does rimfire steel shots and I want to give it a try, what's your ammo of choice for them, I get ever barrel will shoot different,
I'm Asking if you use high grade target ammo or high speed ammo?
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Right now I'm running CCI Mini Mags in my rifles, and CCI Standard Velocity in my pistol. I might switch to CCI Blazer in the rifles when I get through my stock of Mini Mags. Same velocity as Mini Mags, just a lead bullet instead of a plated bullet. I had leading issues with previous guns so I switched to plated bullets, but the current ones seem to tolerate lead bullets fine.

I'd recommend running only round nose bullets, don't run hollow points. They're more likely to cause feeding issues in some guns.

As far as a recommendation, it depends what style of competition you're shooting. For things like steel challenge, reliability is more important than accuracy, as most of the shots are fairly close, and malfunctions will completely ruin your times. For PRS, accuracy is much more important. For fast close shooting, I'd recommend what I'm running, because it works well for me.
 
I have Mini Mags and CCI SV, never caused me a problem.

Eley, great ammo, shoots well. My only issue with it is the lube in one rifle. It plugs up the extractor and causes failures with that. This was Force, Team, and Match.

I have run the S&B Canadian Match, a couple thousand rounds, with no issues.

I also do run SK Rifle Match and Long Range Match.

In my semi's, I used to run Automatch. I think I had three issues with it in probably 20,000. I shot a lot for a brief period, 3-4 boxes of that stuff a week.

My hunting rifles really seem to do "hunting accuracy well" with the American Eagle 38gr HP.

Remington, Browning, and a few others, I just stay away from.
 
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